tchris555

Nix is a good kid with an amazing personality, but he's been oversharing and whiny for a while now. Recently he's been making comments that imply or explicitly state negative opinions regarding ND and his situation with the school and the team. Not just to his inner circle, but publicly. That's not necessary. It needs to stop, that's all. Those aren't the type of personal thoughts he needs to share on the internet, especially when they are counterproductive to the team he's expected to be committed to. If he doesn't want negative interaction from the public, then he shouldn't put negative shit out for public consumption in the first place. That comes with the territory of being a public figure. If you're seeking it out and decide to make unnecessary passive aggressive comments about your school, team, and even your family to the nameless strangers of the internet, then someone (even one of those strangers) should tell you you're making a mistake. But constantly providing Nix (or any other player) with nothing but positive feedback can positively reinforce his immature behavior. I expect more from our players and we all should. When we don't, it leads to a stadium full of complacent dorks doing the jigg and giving the team standing ovations after losses to Syracuse, which is patronizing and embarassing for everyone involved. Luckily, Kelly seems to expect more out of him and at the very least put him on the 2nd team as motivation, despite the immense gap in talent between himself and Schwenke. He wouldn't be doign Nix any favors by doing otherwise. Personally, I'd lean towards instituting an Urban Meyer-like Twitter ban immediately. At least a public Twitter ban. But it's not just his tweets that had displayed a worrisome lack of maturity. Paraphrasing: Pete Sampson: Are you going to be here come this fall? Nix: 'Should be' That's not good. That shouldn't be tolerated. That should result in him running bleachers while Schwenke runs with the first team during practice. If that's how you feel, that sucks, but so be it. Talk it out with the coaches, friends, family, etc. Write it in a private journal if you have to vent like a 15 year old girl. But keep that shit off Twitter, keep it away from beat writers. You wouldn't call Joe Schad to tell him that even your family is questioning your work ethic now, so don't tell the whole world when no one is asking. This kid's got a personality that can make him immensely popular, but he can't afford to fall prey to the Aaron Lynchesque over-entitlement. Hell, maybe AL was a bigger negative influence than any of us could have realized, and hopefully there is a small silver lining in losing a player of AL's ability. But let's be honest, if any of these players are living their lives based on what they see on their Twitter feed, among the thousands of idiots saying 'tough loss against USF! you're the best ever! RT pls!?', then I hope for the sake of their academic eligibility, that they are sociology majors.

GAIII surprised me. I think he LOOKS like Ryan Grant in his uni, but doesn't play like him while he was at ND. I think people forget just how underwhelming Grant's play was at ND because he turned himself into a solid pro and he's also just a good guy. Back to GAIII. I think he looks kind of like Joe McKnight, who I never really thought was as good as his hype, but isn't a terrible person to remind you of. Still think the assumed pecking order is correct: Wood, Riddick (in whatever hybrid role is necessary), and GAIII. I actually think Riddick is a great change of pace for Wood despite both technically being "speed" or "finesse" RB's because Wood is a glider while Riddick makes a cut or a juke every 2 steps. Both styles are effective, both can keep a defense from getting comfortable tackling one style. I think both will be on the field at the same time much more frequently this year and then maybe Neal can slide into Riddick's role following this season (if he stays at ND that is) or even Russell. If Amir gets healthy quick enough or any of the frosh challenge for a top 3 spot, then they must be damn good.

I resent my post being edited. Is this a Micky Mouse Club fan board? We're adults here or at least I thought we were. I also wouldn't want to encourage anyone too young or innocent to read those naughty words to contribute here in anyway. Doubt their perspective would mean anything (self edited).

Deleted.....

Hey, Subway Domer, eat a pickle. Post that on your "blog" if you have room between cartoons of graffiti and leprechauns. Kid's just kind of overly entitled, like an increasing amount of people in my generation and the ones following it. Mods, leave this long enough for him to see it.

i can't believe these kids are such bitches these days. I'm ashamed of our generation(s) sometimes.

Logical pessism should be more welcomed in this forum than blind, constant optimism.

That QB, Kevin Hogan, would have been Irish in a heartbeat. Dozens of his family members went to ND & St. Mary's. Even if we had offered last minute I think we would have stolen him. But we got Golson, which I'm happy with.

Over a year ago when everone was celebrating Prestwood's transfer to ND, i bemoaned the fact that it would now make me uneasy about even our early enrollee's who were already on campus. That fear didn't take long to come to fruition.

a1, do you honestly believe that? That the staff simply thought McNamara wasn't good enough rather than it being about the numbers for them? He's offered, recruited, visits, hangs out with Brady Quinn the whole time, and then the staff decides he's not good enough? But a year later, by March 1st, they have 5 offers out for the 2013 class again? All guys that must be significantly better than the staff eventually thought of McNamara based on your conclusion? I doubt it. McNamara got bumped bc the staff was hoping to use every last scholarship for positions of need (Poole, Darby, Armstead's, etc.) and he wasn't willing to wait until signing day to find out. Calculated risk by the staff, one that McNamara himself wasn't willing to take. Why would he when he had such great options for such a supposedly shitty TE? They stayed in it with Taylor as well, just in case they wanted him at the end, but there's no indication the staff fought hard for him either. Do you truly think that the coaches like each one of the offered TE's in this class more than McNamara? I personally don't think so, but they have the spots for them now. DD, you think Martin would need to move Niklas to TE in order to use 2 TE's? That would seemingly imply that they don't think very much of Koyack or Welch wouldn't it? I don't think either is the case. Just sounds like wishful thinking that a simple position change has created a deadly new facet to our offense.

If it's in fact true, it's probably more to do with the fact that the staff realized it's Niklas's best position and he can contribute there. If it had more to do with need at TE I'd be surprised if the staff just realized this now after turning down McNamara, who was admittedly the #1 TE on their board I honestly don't think he'll have the athleticism to be the type of OLB we want on this defense. It's disapointing that Ishaq didn't leave Niklas in his dust last season, but I think that had more to do with Ishaq not being ready more than Niklas being the better fit for the position. Although, I also think Ishaq is best suited as a 4-3 DE as well.

Agreed. By the time he's that age, sure aim for that size. I'm bitching less about your suggestion than I am our program's trend toward creating oversized players sometimes. Sometimes the logic on this board is: this kid came in as a linebacker, could you imagine that athleticism on a 270 lb TE??? As if you don't sacrifice anything by making the guy that big. Or with Teo. If he hit that hard when he was 220, imagine him now that he's 280?? The formula is not that simple.

haha ok whatever, my mistake. I should have assumed you meant Niklas would meticulously watch his weight to remain 250 lbs on the dot for 2 years. Then flip the switch between his junior and senior years to add that magic 15 lbs. All i'm saying is I don't like when our 19 yr old players gain 30 lbs of weight each year and we assume they remain as athletic as they were when they were half the size. We can't do that across the board and just add a Davonte Neal and call it good team speed/athleticism.

Right, i'm assuming his weight doesn't remain static for the next two years (until he's a senior) under your 'gain as much weight as possible' fantasy for him. What's the source of this rumor by the way? At first glance I think I like it. I never thought Niklas was athletic enough to be a terror of an OLB, figured he'd have to grow into a DE. I don't think he's as athletic as Fleming was and even he had his limitations on the edge. Sadly I think Rabasa is probably the most naturally inclined of that LB class to terrorize QB's from the outside, save maybe Ishaq if we're considering him an LB.

How big do you want him? He was listed at 250 as a freshman. I'd think he'd slim down while changing his body type a bit if this position change sticks. I don't love the idea of a 290 lb TE. Might as well be an OT at that point.